Conventionally, in disk players of the type in which an optical disk signal is read, such as a CD player or DVD player, in order to perform continuous playing of a plurality of disks in a smooth fashion, a magazine is employed that accommodates a plurality of disks, a disk change device being employed of a type in which disks are selectively extracted from within this magazine and played back continuously.
Using such a magazine type disk change device, when continuous playback of a plurality of disks is to be performed, continuous playback in smooth fashion whilst automatically changing a plurality of disks in a short time can be achieved by designating the next disk to be played back using input means such as a control button or by programming beforehand the sequence of a plurality of disks that are to be played back. If this is done, an excellent feeling in use can be obtained since the time required for disk changing is greatly reduced compared with disk change involving a manual operation, because such disk change does not require the performance of a manual operation.
In some magazine type disk change devices as described above, in particular small-sized disk change devices for in-vehicle use or the like, a magazine accommodating a plurality of disks in stacked fashion is arranged such that the surfaces of the disks are in the horizontal direction and is constituted such that the disk drive and disk feed section can be raised and lowered with respect to the magazine. In a disk change device of this type, when disk changing is performed, specifically the following series of operations is performed.
First of all, a disk that has been played is released from the turntable and held in or placed on a corresponding disk holder (clamp-release action). This is followed by return of the disk held in the disk holder to its accommodated position in the magazine, by return of this disk holder into the magazine (unloading action).
After this, the disk drive and disk feed section are raised or lowered and located in position (raising/lowering action) in accordance with the height of the disk holder holding the next disk to be played back. Next, a disk is moved to a prescribed position on the turntable (loading action) by extracting this disk holder from the magazine. Next, when the disk has reached the prescribed position, it is held on the turntable and released from the disk holder (clamping action).
Usually, in order to prevent the plurality of disk holders that are accommodated in stacked fashion in the magazine from springing out from the position in which they are accommodated in the magazine, they are fixed in their accommodated position by a spring. A holder fixing device using such springs has been considered wherein the disk holders 3 are fixed in the accommodated position by engagement of an engagement projection 11 of arrow (diamond) shape provided at one end of disk holders 3 as shown for example in the upper left part of FIG. 2 and a substantially C-shaped holder engagement spring 12 provided along the shape of the engagement projection 11 on the side of the main body of the magazine M.
However, the conventional magazine type disk change device described above is subject to the following problems.
That is, although, as described above, normally, a holder fixing device is provided whereby the holders are fixed in the accommodating position using springs, such as by engagement of an engagement projection 11 and a holder engagement spring 12 as shown in FIG. 2, even though such a holder fixing device is provided, there is a possibility that, when subjected to external impacts, the disk holders may spring out of the magazine.
In particular, although a disk change device for use in a car is held in a magazine-mounted condition in order to reduce as far as possible the space which it occupies during transportation and storage prior to mounting in the vehicle, there is a possibility that, during such transportation and storage, the disk holders may spring out from the magazine due to external impacts. This situation is described below.
Specifically, normally, during disk playback after mounting in the vehicle, the disk change device for a car is supported with the main body of the device in a floating condition from the case or escutcheon and so can be substantially cut off from external impacts. There is therefore scarcely any possibility of severe impacts being applied to the main body of the device during disk playback, so the probability of springing out of the disk holders occurring is extremely low.
In contrast, during transportation and storage prior to mounting in the vehicle, the main body of the device is frequently fixed to the case or escutcheon in order to prevent deterioration of the floating construction portion. External impacts are therefore directly applied to the main device body and there is therefore a possibility of the disk holders springing out from the magazine.
In order to prevent such springing out of the disk holders, consideration has been given to providing a disk springing-out prevention device in the main body of the disk change device. However, provision of a special purpose device for preventing springing out of the disk holders increases the number of components of the disk change device as a whole and so may result in the device as a whole becoming larger and more complicated. This is therefore undesirable.
The present invention was made with a view to solving the above problems of the prior art. An object thereof is to provide a disk holder springing-out prevention device of high operational reliability which is capable of contributing to miniaturization and simplification of the disk change device as a whole, by making it possible to reliably prevent springing out of the disk holders from within the magazine without increasing the number of components, by utilizing an existing structure of the disk change device.